Date : February 7, 2023, 16:00 CET
Paul Romatschke (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Link: https://zoom.us/j/98260147834?pwd=VW5BQStqUGUrUFFzWG1jL2tuWXJoZz09
Quantum Field Theory in Wonderland
Abstract: Wouldn’t it be nice to solve large N QCD analytically? While QCD is hard, it is fairly easy to solve scalar field theories with many components, such as the O(N) model in the large N limit. Traditional wisdom has it that such theories are ill defined because they have the wrong beta function, possess a Landau pole, and are quantum trivial for N=1. In this talk, I throw out conventional wisdom, and critically re-examine scalar field theories in 4d, borrowing heavily from PT-symmetric field theory results. It’s a solvable wonderland with asymptotic freedom, bound states in the infrared and a phase transition in between.
